Fiserv, Inc. (NYSE: FI), a global provider of payments and financial services technology, and Plaid, a data network at the forefront of the digital financial landscape, announced an agreement to enable secure and reliable data sharing through application programming interfaces (APIs), addressing growing consumer demand to access their financial information when, where and how they want.
Through this collaboration, consumers who bank “with the nearly 3,000 bank and credit union clients hosted by Fiserv will have secure, credential-less API-based connectivity to the more than 8,000 applications and services on the Plaid network via AllData Connect from Fiserv, allowing consumers to share their financial information with the third-party financial apps and services of their choice.”
The scale of this agreement is unprecedented “in the industry and will significantly expand the direct sharing of data between financial institutions and the third parties with which their customers interact.”
Matt Wilcox, President of Digital Payments at Fiserv, said:
“Our partnership with Plaid allows banks and credit unions to empower consumers to access their financial information beyond the financial institution, while maintaining their trusted role at the center of people’s financial lives. By facilitating access to a broad range of capabilities and experiences through third-party apps and services we are charting a course towards an open finance ecosystem that prioritizes data privacy, consumer access, and choice.”
Fiserv and Plaid are in an ideal position “to facilitate secure, direct data access at scale.”
By connecting to the Plaid network via AllData Connect from Fiserv, financial institutions can ensure consumers have reliable access “to their data as well as a seamless and more secure experience when using third-party apps and services.”
Aly Yarris, Financial Access Partnerships at Plaid, said:
“Financial institutions regardless of size, location, or capital should be able to power these digital experiences for their consumers via APIs. We’re proud to partner with Fiserv to bring secure, reliable API connectivity to thousands of financial institutions on behalf of their many customers.”
Jason Lazzerini, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Central Pacific Bank, said:
“Our customers want to ensure reliable connections to the applications they choose to do business with, and we see the partnership between Fiserv and Plaid as an important step to delivering secure open banking.”
Fiserv and Plaid will also “advance secure and transparent data sharing in line with anticipated regulatory guidance such as that outlined by Dodd Frank 1033, the regulation that governs secure financial data access, transforming the future of financial services.”